Funny how even in a forum about a CRPG game Godwin´s law still applies.
"As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1"
I really don't think that Godwin's law applies here as I was using the "Go back in time and kill Hitler" thought experiment as an example of doing an "evil" act for a "good" goal rather than comparing an individual or idea to Hitler/Nazism to win an argument. Hitler, being almost universally associated with evil, just made for an easier example than writing "Evil person who is completely evil and devoid of any goodness". Plus I would think most people have encountered the go back in time and kill Hitler idea and are familiar with it and I was hoping it would not illicit a debate on the example itself but the ideas of doing evil for an ultimately good goal and how an act itself can be good or evil (or both) depending on the individual and their intent and how that would translate into in-game alignment. (Just to clarify I don't feel like you were attacking my ideas or anything like that and I hope you don't think I am doing it likewise. I just feel that Godwin's law is thrown out too often and used as a "You said Hitler, I win now, discussion over.")
As for alignment being in the game I'm just thinking of ways everybody could be happy or at least not upset about it. Player agency and experience are more important than including a system simply for the sake of it being there in the original ruleset and if they are unable to implement in a way that doesn't leave people shoehorned into choosing options for metagaming reasons I agree it should be left out. However I like concepts like Paladins falling and having to redeem themselves, alignment restricted items, detecting good/evil law/chaos (And particularly ways to prevent others from doing so), etc. and I don't see how we could see these things in the game without it being a static story element for a npc.
I think a dynamic point based alignment score could work if done correctly. I would even be content even if the didn't call it good/evil law/chaos (Although that would be my preferance). They could use a colored "aura" or "spirit" or maybe adjust the expression/appearance of your character sort of like how the force did in KOTOR (All be it to a much much more subtle degree, more like a sour expression or aggressive body language).
